The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-10-19

well, here is one, but / cart let you
smell il. This is cacodyl, and ii kills, not
on sight, but on smell. 1t is asul3ho-organic
compound with arsenic, and it aso is very
cheap. A whole army could be killed off
by few shells full of it. II we come to
that-and a small State might resort to it
if threatened with Invasion by large one
we shall very nearly put an erd to war"
"Your laboratory is very beautiful, very
complete and very scientific, Nh. Weston
said the reporter, "but couldn't you find
something more agreeable to show me than
these suggestions of Chinese methods of
warfareN
well, how do you like this9' queried the
scientist as he uncOrked under the reporters
nose big bottle with an almost colorless
liquid in it. The odor was like that of a
plantation ripened banana-one of the kind
that the St Domingo darkies like to cut
lust at de full o. de moon"-the perfection
of banana in short
"Now, that is acetate of amyl," continued
Mr.. W eston, land if all the banana planta-
lions should give on / could make very
f@s> imitation of bananas out Of corn starch
and that liquid.n
"Holy smoken said the reporter ''I've
heard of artificial eggs, and if you can make
artificial bananas I'll believe the egg story
What'll you make the skins Off
HOW TO MAKE BANANAS.
"Oh! that's easy. Here is a substance that
is tough and cheap and it can be easily
moulded into the proper shape Then the
corn starch filling can be poured in and the
banana is ready for sale. This stuff for the
skins is merely common cotton, saturated
with sulphuric and nitric acid-gun cotton, in
fact-dissolved in a mixture of ether and
alcohol and the solvent then evaporated
1t becomes then ssolid, resembling fine
white horn, very tough; the toughest sub
stance known. 1t can be shaved into sheets
of the proper thickness and the banana peel
color can easily be given"
As the reporter had eaten bananas at Mr.
Weston's lunch table that day he began to
have grave doubts. Even the Havana
cigars offered him in the library had sus-
picious look What if they were manufac-
tured out in that dreadful laboratory, too!
The whole place was uncanny. Electricity
was ION tap" so to speak, everywhere. He
didn't dare to wipe his feet on the innocent
looking door mat, because it might be
merely a battery in ambuscade. Sure
enough on risking an encounter with very
commonplace scraper, a couple of brushes
sprang out by electricity and cleaned off
the Jersey mud in no time.
Doors opened when one approached them,
and mysteriously closed when one had
passed.. There was no gas-only incandes-
cent lamps, and it was not necessary to go
near them to light them. Standing in his
hall MIR. Weston lighted up every room in
the house successfully.
ELECTRIC RAPID TRANSIT.
II have solved the question of travel by
electricity finally said Mr.. Weston, land
| am now building an experimental motor.
There will, of course, be improvements in
devices, but there is nothing further to be
done in principle That is complete and
leaves no question that we can travel be-
tween New York and Philadelphia, drawn
by an electric motor as rapidly and safely
as by steam power, and more cheaply.
There Is no guesswork about my assertion.
1t is so certain that | stake my professional
reputation on having the trains running as
soon as the patents are granted, the roads
ready to make the experiments and the
motors built. OF course l cannot now make
public the principle, but l may say that it
differs from any of the existing methods of
operating electric motors on railway lines.
It is not merely a scientific possibility, but
a practical, commercially available and
economical solution of the problem of cleo
trio railway motors"
Mr.. We5ton's reputation as an expert in
electricity gives to his assertion a value that
will be readily recognized by other scientific
men. He is. Perhaps even better known in
Europe than he is In this country, owing to
the recognition there given to the indi-
vidual, while here his personality has been
overshadowed by the company whose sue
cess depended upon him.
Park Benjamin, the well-known scientific
exIaxt, when questioned concerning the
proIE,.e made by Mr.. Weston, said
IF Weston says the thing is a certainty,
it is certainty He is the most accurate
man in things scientific know. He will
never declare thing sllccess-no matter
how promising-while in the experimental
stage; bat when he says he knows thing
he does know it positively"